Micro management of cities

[ybrevo]

Hello everybody, and thanks for a fantastic CIV forum!

I was a veteran CIV 1 and 2 player, and after long time no see I bought CIV 4 (vanilla) for my Mac. I hope BtS will be coming for Mac too in the future, since I don´t find it worthwhile buying Warlords - at least after reading some of the threads here.

I´ve only played 5 games so far (Noble level and standard settings) and still have a lot to learn. But one thing I am wondering about is the auto-micro management of the cities, because sometimes it tends to be rather stupid. How comes it chooses to work tiles less efficient than eg. the neighboring tile having +1 hammer or commerce? It especially seems to be a problem with cities just conquered and growing.

If you can provide me with some help and own experiences, I will be very grateful. As I said - to me CIV 4 is fumbling in the dark at the moment javascript:smilie('')

[Fleme]

The AI can be helpful but will never do exactly what you wish for it to do. Best way is to tinker around yourself and find the balance you want.

The AI will hardly ever choose the right specialists, the improvements you want in the city or the order in which it is best to work the tiles at that current moment.

That said, I naturally find it better to handle your micromanagement yourself since the outcome is always better. The AI does a respectable job if you're willing to settle for "ok" but it will never be as good as a human player with an objective.

Welcome to the forum ybrevo.

[Krill]

In Vanilla it is always a good idea to micromanage your workers and cities, because the Ai is kind of dumb. If MtS comes to Mac the AI is much better, but until then you're going to have to work at the game.

[Ari]

I can't really remember vanilla, but in BtS, one possible reason for seemingly counterintuitive tile working could be favoring a cottage over something else. I've definitely seen the governor favor cottages over things that would have a better short term yield.

Another thing about the AI governor is that I think it has some sense of how your game is going, and adjusts worked tiles accordingly. I've noticed that during the mid expansion phase, when I'm sliding down to 30% science just to keep my colonization going, I suddenly seem to have far more commerce generating tiles being worked. Other times (maybe random, maybe when cranking out military units?) I see a favoring of forests. In the very specific case that growth will only lead to addition 2 food or worse tiles being worked, I've definitely seen specialists be created even when they don't "have" to be. Not sure if there's really a pattern here, but I'm thinking that the AI may be attempting to "guess" what you need most now.

[Robert]

I always micromanage my empire in the beginning, only to put workers on auto later on.
The AI tends to improve your tiles in ballance, and thus create a fat cross that's able to use all (or as much as possible) tiles for the max profit. But sometimes you just decide to keep your city smaller at the benefit of a bigger hammer output.

Also does the AI not specialize cities.
That stuff can be done by micromanage the first parts, then later or put it on auto. Works fine for me.

The mistakes the AI makes can always ben fixed by keeping some workers on manual. (and have the option set that the auto workers won't replace current improvements)

[Modo44]

Micromanagement of cities and Workers is key to the early game. Learning to do this properly can easily take you up a difficulty level.

In BtS, the late-game governor is broken in that it favors Spies over other specialists, pretty much regardless of settings. So, you have to remember to manually change those to do more useful stuff.

[Supr49er]

Welcome ybrevo!

[Aro]

Originally posted by Fleme
............

The AI will hardly ever choose the right specialists, the improvements you want in the city or the order in which it is best to work the tiles at that current moment.

............

That's me!

[Aro]

Originally posted by Supr49er
Welcome ybrevo!

[ybrevo]

Thanks for your helpful opinions and the warming welcome to this forum!

Micromanagement of the cities was name of the game in the earlier Civ. versions, so it shouldn´t be too difficult to get into that habit again. I guess it is enough to check out a city when it grows in size - or when adjustments are needed due to production, commerce or the like?

I am juggling with 16 cities at the moment (most of them with Japanese, Egyptian and Russian names - which gives a bit of zest to my German empire he-he-he), so there is a bit of work to do.

I look forward to learn a lot more of your wisdom in future threads ...

Ybrevo

[Crossfire]

Often the times I notice the city seems to be working a tile that outputs less than one that isn't being worked and it is because the better tile only became available that turn. If I wait another turn then the AI has switched to the better tile.

I always micro my workers until everything is build but roads/railroads and then I automate them building roads. Once I get the ability to build Lumbermills I take control again for a while.

And I sure wish we could turn on a switch to determine what kinds of Great People we get!

[LzPrst]

I'm notoriously impatient, so I tend to focus production in certain areas. all the food producing squares to get the city to a respectable size, then mostly production to get some improvements to make it worthwhile and then, provided it has potential for it, commerce. I tend to specialize alot. keep in mind that I always try to have some growth, unless the city is at its max happiness level. then I occasionally let them starve a little, not enough to lose pop, just so that I get a little extra production out of them going hungry for a few years.

and yes. I am cynical and evil